Charles Hudson was an Anglican chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 and mountain climber

Mountaineering

Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...

 from Skillington, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Hudson was one of the most important climbers of the golden age of alpinism

Golden age of alpinism

The golden age of alpinism was the period between Alfred Wills's ascent of the Wetterhorn in 1854 and Edward Whymper's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865, during which many major peaks in the Alps saw their first ascents....

. An immensely strong walker, he is considered a pioneer of guideless and winter climbing in the western Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

, having made the first guideless ascent of Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...

 in 1855, the first official ascent of Mont Blanc du Tacul

Mont Blanc du Tacul

Mont Blanc du Tacul is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif of the French Alps situated midway between the Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc....

 with Edward John Stevenson, Christopher and James Grenville Smith, E. S. Kennedy

E. S. Kennedy

E. S. Kennedy can refer to :* Edward Shirley Kennedy, alpinist and writer* Edward Stewart Kennedy, historian of science...

, Charles Ainslie and G. C. Joad on 8 August 1855, a guideless ascent of the Breithorn

Breithorn

The Breithorn is a mountain in the Pennine Alps, located close to the Matterhorn. It is considered the most easily climbed 4,000 m Alpine peak. This is due to the Klein Matterhorn cable car which takes climbers to over 3,820 m for a starting point. The standard route continues over a glacial...

 and a near ascent of the Aiguille du Goûter solo in winter, being forced back close to the summit by fresh snow. Amongst his guided climbs were the first ascent of Monte Rosa

Monte Rosa

The Monte Rosa Massif is a mountain massif located in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps. It is located between Switzerland and Italy...

 in 1855, the first completed passage of the Mönch

Mönch

The Mönch is a mountain in the Bernese Alps, in Switzerland. Together with the Eiger and the Jungfrau it forms a highly recognisable group of mountains visible from far away....

joch in 1858, the first ascent of Mont Blanc by the Goûter route (incomplete) in 1859 with E. S. Kennedy and party, and the second ascent of the Aiguille Verte

Aiguille Verte

The Aiguille Verte is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps.It was first climbed on 29 June 1865 by Edward Whymper, Christian Almer and Franz Biner, a fortnight before the fateful first ascent of the Matterhorn. Whymper was unable to climb with his usual guide, Michel Croz, who...

 (the first by the Moine ridge) in 1865 (with T. S. Kennedy and Michel Croz

Michel Croz

Michel Auguste Croz was a French mountain guide and the first ascentionist of many mountains in the western Alps during the golden age of alpinism...

).

Matterhorn accident

During the first ascent of the Matterhorn

Matterhorn

The Matterhorn , Monte Cervino or Mont Cervin , is a mountain in the Pennine Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its summit is 4,478 metres high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points...

 on 14 July 1865 Hudson was killed in the notorious accident during the descent. Edward Whymper

Edward Whymper

Edward Whymper , was an English illustrator, climber and explorer best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. On the descent four members of the party were killed.-Early life:...

 was planning to climb the mountain with Lord Francis Douglas

Lord Francis Douglas

Lord Francis William Bouverie Douglas was a novice, British mountaineer. After sharing in the first ascent of the Matterhorn, he died in a fall on the way down from the summit.-Early life:...

, when he heard that Hudson (together with Michel Croz) had the same objective. Whymper wrote:
The accident occurred because Hadow

Douglas Robert Hadow

Douglas Robert Hadow was an English novice mountaineer who died on the descent after the first ascent of the Matterhorn.-Family:...

 slipped on the descent not far from the summit, pulling Croz, Hudson and Douglas down the north face of the mountain; the rope between these four and the other three members of the party (Whymper and the two Zermatt guides named Peter Taugwalder, father and son), snapped, saving them from the same fate. Some have blamed Hudson for insisting on the presence of the inexperienced Hadow in the party, and for not checking the quality of the rope or the boots Hadow was wearing.

Hudson's body was retrieved from the Matterhorn glacier and was buried in the Zermatt

Zermatt

Zermatt is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a population of about 5,800 inhabitants....

churchyard.